


Safe

by dykemoons



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Runaways (Comics)
Genre: Anxiety, Coping, F/F, Fluff, Mental Health Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 11:41:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20446565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dykemoons/pseuds/dykemoons
Summary: Nico Minoru and Karolina Dean both have parts of themselves they struggle with. This is just some of how they help each other live with them.





	Safe

They had both been doing better since getting together, but they both still had their days.

  
  


For Karolina, her anxiety could flare up anytime. A random thought about her parents, the way life used to be before she became a runaway, before life was crazy, making her think about all she had lost since then. Or a thought about Xavin, off somewhere in space, if they were even still alive. Or if she ever thought about how she had failed Julie. Or the ways she felt like she had failed her friends. Anything could set her off, thinking too much about her past mistakes and all the ways she was afraid she might mess up again. Sometimes it was nothing at all, nothing to set it off, just an uneasy feeling gnawing at her from the inside. 

When it became too much for her, she would focus on her breathing, try to get away. She’d escape back to her room, put some earbuds in to play some of her favorite music, and lie in bed while repeating the affirmations her therapist gave her to try and calm down. 

_ I am a good person. I am my own person. My parents decisions don’t define me. I forgive myself for the mistakes I made when I was too young to know any better. I deserve to be happy. _

When Nico found Karolina like this, she would silently climb into their bed facing Karolina. Nico would take an ear bud from Karolina and put it in her own ear so they could listen together. She softly stroked Karolina’s hair with one hand, and held one of Karolina’s hands in her other.

When Nico was with her, Karolina didn’t need to repeat the affirmations to herself anymore. She could see in her loving brown eyes what Nico thought of her, and Karolina felt safe knowing she could be the person Nico saw her as.

Nico had been through a lot, and even though she was happy and back with her family, the weight of it was too much sometimes. She could be perfectly fine one moment, sitting in their living room watching a movie with everyone else, when a random violent or bloody moment might trigger something inside her brain, even if the same film hadn’t done so the day before. In a moment, Nico’s mind filled with images of her bloody arm lying in the snow, the images of every place she had bled to call the Staff over the years, images of all the hurt people she couldn’t save, all the hurt people she herself had hurt. 

When it became overwhelming, Nico would quietly slip away from the rest of the Runaways, back up to her bedroom. She would curl up in bed with something to occupy her mind, usually something on her handheld game player. Nico focused on the trivial, calming tasks of the game, whether it be tending crops in a farming game, or training her team of adorable Pokemon. 

After letting her be alone for a while, Karolina would come into the room, and slip into the bed behind Nico. She’d spoon her close and place a light kiss to the back of her neck, staying silent as she watched Nico play. Later on she might make a joke about whatever Nico was doing on screen, and they’d laugh together. 

When Nico’s mind was far enough away from the terror of her memories, she’d turn off the game and turn around to face Karolina, letting herself feel safe in Karolina’s arms, where she would drift off to sleep.

  
  
  


Nico and Karolina would always be dealing with these parts of themselves, but they couldn’t imagine anyone better to help them get through it than each other.


End file.
